Enjoy the Challenge
by SilverTurtle
Summary: Ren gets suckered into a party by Ruby where, guess what, they play truth or dare. IDF submission. Ren/Tawny femslash.


A/N: My fourth submission for the International Day of Femslash. This is my very first Even Stevens fic. I've been wanting to write one forever, but I hadn't really challenged myself to do it before now. I hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Even Stevens, Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins, or Terry Pratchett…but I do love them all for their entertainment value.

ESESESESESESESESESESESESESESESES

Ren Stevens is a perfectionist. Not because everybody thinks she should be, but because she's a little crazy. But that's okay, because she gets things done and is usually polite about it. Set her a task and it gets finished. Give her an assignment and she will complete it in the shortest amount of time possible. She has broken speed records on report writing. She's practically perfect in every way…like Mary Poppins, only younger and with better hair (no offence to Julie Andrews of course, she's awesome).

Now that we've established Ren's obsessive need to be perfect…or at least to do things perfectly, we can come to the point of this story. Ren has accepted a dare. How she got sucked into a game of Truth or Dare is actually an interesting bit of fun. Of course, it starts with Ruby. Ruby who could convince Ren to walk on hot coals barefoot if she set her mind to it, had guilted Ren into attending 'the biggest party of the year (which happens to be at her house), everyone who's anyone will be there, and you owe me for that time you didn't tell me that Mitsy was mackin' on one of my boyfriends (she kept a rotation of five at all times)'…Ruby is very good at what she does. And what she does is make life interesting.

If you've ever read a Terry Pratchett novel than you know that making things interesting usually equates to getting into a whole heap of trouble, like going up that one creek without a paddle, yes, that's what Ruby does. She puts you in the boat, takes away the paddle, shoves you into the stream, and once you're out there remembers that she forgot to tell you about the holes in the bottom of the boat. Ruby is a little _forgetful_ at times. Also a little vindictive.

So there Ren was at the party, minding her own business, when Ruby magically appears with several of their peers and several bottles of alcohol. Ren couldn't escape, not with the drunk and leaning linebackers on either side of her, so she was forced to acquiesce to whatever plan Ruby had in mind to torture her with tonight. And Ruby wasted no time in getting to the torment of her best friend.

"Alright folks, it's time for the classic party game, you all know which one."

"Sure we do." One of the burly linebackers next to Ren said as he leered at Ruby.

Ruby scoffed, "Not Spin the Bottle, or Seven Minutes in Heaven…No, we're classier than that, aren't we?" She waited for the cheers of assent before continuing, "Of course we are, that's why we're going to play Truth or Dare."

There were hoots and cheers mixed with groans (the loudest of the agonized groans originating with Ren). Ruby smiled angelically, "Now, there are some house rules. First, no one can dare anyone to do anything that will lead to injury. Secondly, you can't dare someone to do anything that'll get us into trouble with the cops, so no stealing, murdering, vandalizing, or anything like that. And you absolutely can't dare anyone to do anything truly disgusting, like…I don't know, like eating dog shit or something. Can't do it. Other than that, I don't see any problems. Though, as head of house I reserve the right to cancel or change any dares that I don't approve of. Agreed?"

She watched the nods all around, even a reluctant one from Ren (after all, how much trouble can they get into with rules like that?). "Okay then. Let us proceed. I'm going to spin this bottle to determine who goes first. Who it lands on will accept a dare or tell the truth, then after that they spin the bottle and repeat the process. Understood?" At the nods Ruby spun the bottle and the game began.

Ruby's spin landed on some baseball player, who naturally chose dare, and had him strip to his underwear and sing 'I'm a Little Teapot' while dancing on a tabletop. His task completed he took his spin and dared some random chick to eat a disgusting concoction of alcohol, table condiments, and mud. She dared one jock to French kiss another, and when he refused had him recount his most embarrassing moment which turned out to be hitting on the school nurse in front of one of the coaches whom happened to be the nurse's boyfriend.

The truths and dares seemed endless, and progressively more foolish. Thankfully Ren had yet to be subjected to some pitiful and disgusting dare, which only seemed to be getting worse with the more alcohol the game's participants consumed. She had pretty much zoned out until Ruby caught her attention by spinning the bottle and landing it on her. Ruby already knew most of Ren's deep dark secrets, some she most emphatically did not want aired in front of mixed company, so she chose dare.

"Dare, eh Ren? Okay, I dare you to kiss…that black haired girl standing next to the keg."

Ren just sighed. Ruby always did this to her, get her to play some game that inevitably led to Ren kissing inappropriate people. She was pretty sure Ruby was just using her to vicariously get some Sapphic attention since she knew Ren would never back down from a dare. Besides, kissing a girl was hardly the worst dare faced tonight. Though Ruby's positively evil smile right now was throwing her off a little. Still, Ren got up and went after the girl, hearing Ruby call after her "On the lips, Ren, and in front of us so we know you did it!"

Ren flapped her right hand over her shoulder to acknowledge the terms and continued on her path to her goal. She expected to find someone she didn't know, that's usually how these things worked at Ruby's parties; Ren didn't know ninety percent of the people there most of the time. With the randomness of Ruby's guests it was a fair bet that whoever Ren was forced to approach wouldn't know her and she wouldn't ever see them again. It was a testament to how pissed Ruby was at her that she'd managed to find the one girl Ren _did_ know and send her friend out on _this_ dare, especially knowing how she felt about this particular girl.

Tawny Dean. Her brother's best girl friend, and on-again-off-again girlfriend of the last three years. Tawny, at sixteen, had grown up beautifully. Filling out in all the right places, slimming down in others, and she was so damn brilliant. Seriously, Tawny could give Ren a run for her money…which is exactly why Ren had scouted her to participate in Academic Decathlon. It was during their many study sessions and competitions that Ren noticed her feelings for the younger girl changing, growing. She noticed every little thing Tawny did, hyper aware of her when they were in close proximity, admiring her when she was answering questions correctly or speaking with passion and conviction.

Ren quickly determined this was more than professional interest…it was _infatuation_. That, frankly, shocked her. She had never thought of other girls romantically before. Sure, she'd noticed that women were pretty, and generally nicer than guys, but she'd never wanted to kiss one before. That all changed when she started noticing Tawny. In the younger girl she saw a match for her intellect and drive. She saw a girl who had matured far beyond the confines of their surroundings. She saw an equal. She saw someone she could spend hours discussing literature with, and in fact they had done that on many occasions. She saw someone she'd be happy to sit in silence with, which says quite a lot as Ren rarely could sit still and hardly ever keep quiet for long. But Tawny's presence mellowed Ren out, her manner relaxed Ren and let her mind wander to places she'd never known it could go. She hadn't known desire could feel the way it did when she thought of Tawny, any desire she'd had for her boyfriends paled in comparison to the pure electric shock she got from just thinking of the younger girl.

And approaching her now was paralyzing Ren's thought processes. As soon as she'd seen it was Tawny she had to kiss her brain had turned off rational thought and turned on every little fantasy or day dream she'd ever had featuring the younger girl. Most were tame domestic scenes, but there were a few, a precious few, that ventured into downright steamy. While her brain may have stalled her body certainly hadn't. She'd kept her path to the girl while her mind detoured.

Soon Ren had arrived at Tawny's side. Tawny was already turned to face her having sensed her presence while she was still several feet away. The smile Tawny sent to her was simply beautiful. "Hey, Ren." She spoke with warmth and affection coloring her voice. Tawny's head tilted to the left as she looked questioningly into Ren's eyes, "What's up?"

Ren spoke quietly, "I need you to do me a favor."

Tawny looked at her even more quizzically than before, but motioned for her to go on as she leaned closer to Ren's body. That move drove all thoughts of explaining the situation right out of Ren's head, with no coherent thought happening she acted on instinct.

Before either of them could really react Ren had pulled Tawny into her arms, cupped the back of Tawny's head and tilted it into position, and brought her lips down to meet Tawny's in a blistering kiss.

When Ren's mind finally did catch up with her actions she was horrified that she'd done this without asking, but relieved to finally know what kissing Tawny would feel like and taste like. It was better than she could have imagined. She never wanted it to end, but knew that it had to if she were going to get out of this with their friendship still in tact. But just when Ren would have pulled away Tawny groaned into the kiss and wrapped her own arms around Ren's waist, dragging them impossibly closer and deepening the kiss Ren hadn't intended to happen.

Feeling Tawny against her, feeling the vibrations of that groan coursing through her, broke something in Ren that she was sure she'd never want fixed. It absolutely shattered whatever half-baked plans Ren had had of her future…one where she'd marry some man and have two point five children with a white picket fence and a golden retriever. Tawny's response to this unexpected kiss had opened new doors in Ren's imagination, doors leading to a future with the younger girl.

The kiss broke and Tawny nearly collapsed into Ren, her head falling to Ren's shoulder. "God, Ren! Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you to do that?" Tawny was pressing butterfly kisses up Ren's neck to her pulse point. Ren felt faint yet exhilarated at the same time, a combination of feeling she'd never experienced before.

Ren smiled while squeezing the younger woman in a hug, "If it's been any longer than I've wanted to do it, you have my sympathies. I'll do anything I can to…alleviate the _suffering_ I've caused." Clearly teasing, but with a hopeful edge to it.

Tawny laughed and smiled up at Ren, her fingers tangling in Ren's hair. "Is that a promise?" she teased right back.

An unusual determination filled Ren's eyes, "It is."

"Excellent." Tawny's blue eyes searched Ren's brown for a long moment before she pulled Ren into a kiss that was equal parts passion and challenge.

Ren never backed down from a challenge.

ESESESESESESESESESESESESESESES

Ruby had seen it all happen. She had watched the two leave together and knew she'd done her good deed for the year. Now it was time to enact her own designs on that runningback she'd seen eyeing her earlier.

ESESESESESESESESESESESES

A/N: My first Even Stevens story, kind of short, but I'm satisfied with it. Isn't International Day of Femslash fun?


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